The Carolina Panthers are fortunate to have left the league’s cellar, emerging as a borderline playoff team under head coach Dave Canales’ watch. Yet, the next step on the path to contention can quickly turn to purgatory.
A week after throwing for 448 yards in an overtime win, quarterback Bryce Young crashed and burned against the San Francisco 49ers, sending Carolina back to .500 and dampening the hype after Week 11’s heroics.
Can the Carolina Panthers Make the Playoffs?
The road to the playoffs was made more difficult by Week 12’s 20-9 loss to the 49ers.
Now sitting at 6-6, Carolina trails the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a half-game. In a conference far more competitive than anticipated, the Panthers sit outside the playoff picture as the NFC’s ninth seed.
Carolina’s easiest path to mid-January football is through the NFC South, where the Buccaneers have hit serious adversity. Fortunately for the Panthers, they’ll get two cracks at taking down Tampa, Weeks 16 and 18.
According to PFSN’s NFL Playoff Predictor, the Panthers currently have a 31.9% chance of making the playoffs and a 30.1% chance of winning the division. In comparison, the Buccaneers have a 68.3% chance to make the playoffs, and a 67.2% chance to win the NFC South.
The Wild Card race has proven to be much more crowded. They still trail the Detroit Lions, who entered the year with Super Bowl aspirations but are currently 7-4. Carolina obviously won’t have the tiebreaker over San Francisco (8-4), but will have it over the No. 6 seed Green Bay Packers (7-3-1).
The Panthers also have the tiebreaker over the Dallas Cowboys, who they beat 30-27 in Week 6. With the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks also left on the schedule, there are more opportunities to create tiebreaker advantages, although Carolina will likely not be favored to win either contest.
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That strength of schedule figures to make life difficult down the stretch, especially with the Buccaneers having one of the league’s most favorable home stretches. No team left on Tampa’s schedule has a winning record after 12 weeks of action.
The Buccaneers will play the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13, followed by the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. Between the two Carolina clashes, they get the Miami Dolphins in Week 17.
Subsequently, the Panthers can still make the playoffs. To do so, they’ll need better play from Young, who entered Week 12 as the 30th-ranked passer by PFSN’s Quarterback Impact metric. After throwing for 169 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions on Monday Night Football, he has put Carolina’s back against the wall as it heads into Week 13 against the 9-2 Rams.
